In India, eight hundred and nineteen Indian armed forces’ personnel committed suicide in the last five years.
This was stated by Indian Minister of State for Defence, Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
The minister said that the Indian Air Force reported 148 cases of suicide in this period while the number in the Indian Navy was 29.
As per an Indian media reports, protracted deployment along the borders with Pakistan and China as well as counter-militancy operations take a toll on the mental health and physical endurance of Indian soldiers.
The experts are of the opinion that it is compounded by poor salaries, lack of basic amenities, ineffectual leadership and sometimes humiliation at the hands of their officers.
